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In a WSJ article, as reported on Space.com, it appears the Zuma satellite launch failure has been assigned to Northrup Grumman's use of a subcontractor supplied payload adapter to separate the satellite from the second stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Read it here:https://www.space.com/40246-spacex-not-to-blame-zuma-failure.html
This comes on the heels of a recent announcement that the James Webb Space Telescope launch will be delayed into 2020; not good for the major contractor, Northrup Grumman, of the 8 Billion project.
Last edited by Oldfart1939 (2018-04-10 13:52:15)
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It wasn't clear to me whether the sub contractor was at fault, whether NG had designed it wrong or whether NG had made subsequent mods which introduced the fault.
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What little I've seen about this says they only ran 3 tests on the ground to verify that it worked, before flying.
I suspect this piece of hardware was something they used before with a different payload on a different rocket. I also suspect they assumed it would likely work with the Zuma payload on the Spacex rocket, with minimal verification needed.
Sort of looks like a bad assumption to me. Which is why we spell "assume" the way we do. Makes an ASS out of U and ME.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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That is bad news for Northrup Grumman in that they do a ton of military work...and its quite the egg on the face for them in that what failed appears to be the adapter for the space x shroud. There must have been a electrical connection issue for the battery power used on seperation to fire off the chargers to jetison the shroud and such from the satelite.
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This is a problem where there are split responsibilities between 2 or more contractors. I suspect that SpaceX will get paid, and NG will get a large bill for submission to their insurer.
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